Why do prefectures need fingerprints?

Normally this is a routine part of the process, at least if it is the first time that you apply for a card, the Interior Ministry says.

To be clear about this, we are not talking about you having to press your fingers on an ink pad - it simply involves putting your fingers under a small scanner on the desktop and it takes a few seconds.

A spokesman for the ministry department dealing with foreign people, the DGEF, said: “This is an obligation, motivated by the wish to fight against fraud and to avoid non-EU citizens passing themselves off as Europeans, who benefit from more advantageous rules than non-EU citizens.

“The problem often arises with people from Georgia, Russians and people from the Balkans, and taking fingerprints helps us to outwit the fraudsters.”